I am pretty damn lost at this point.

The problem is my 25lb line keeps breaking and its costing me fish and expensive lures. So far I've lost a Lunker Punker and a R2S Rover that I bought as a temporary replacement for the Punker.

The series of events that has me confused goes something like this.

I was throwing the Punker and got slammed by a striper upon setting the hook the line snapped about 1.5 inches from the snap. Luckily the fish didn't get hooked and the got the Punker back as it was 8 feet from shore. This was the VERY first cast of the day and I had just stripped off 5 feet of line and retied when this happened. So i stripped off another 5 or 6 feet of line and tied on another snap and went to casting. This is when a 10.3lb striper hit as I was pulling it on shore my line snapped AGAIN. I jumped on and straddled the striper and got my Punker back before releasing the fish. Maybe a half hour later after retying I got another hit on the Punker and within 10 seconds of having the fish on my line snapped this time the fish took it as a souvenir

At this point I stopped using the reel and took all the line off it right then and there. Using my other rod that day with the same brand, lb test, hell off the same larger spool I managed to get 5 more stripers from 10-16.1lbs in the next few hours with NO problems.

When I got home paranoid as all hell I stripped all 3 swimbait reels and spooled with fresh 25 lb test. Yes the same brand that had the breakage issues but also the same that caught me the other 5 stripers and many more over the last year.

So I went out a few days later and didnt get anything. Two days after that maybe 10 casts into the morning I get annihilated on the R2S Rover and within 10 seconds the damn line broke again. Fresh 25 lb test and bye bye lure. So I grab the other rod that hasn't had line breakage issues and was able to pull a 10 lb striper and a 7.2 lb largemouth with no issues.

I don't know what to do I am paranoid about throwing my favorite combo. The line has basically broke the last 4 times I have had a fish on. Yet basically the line from the same filler spool on a different combo hasn't had one single issue. The rod and reel look fine no noticeable crack or chips on the guides.... I am at a complete loss for why this is happening.

Sorry for the novel... any suggestions??? The obvious one I guess is use a different line. This is however the first time I ever had problems with it though....

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Pretending to be a swimbait fisherman since 2001.

What type line are you using? And how old is the line you are spooling up with? You may have got a bad spool, it happens. I use 20 and 25Lb big game and never have my line break! Unless I neglect retying occassionally. Also check your knot after so many casts with such large lures to reduce the chance of line breakage due to knot stress. Hope this helps.

I had a similar experience this summer. I've been throwing 25 lb Big Game pretty much forever and had never broken off a swimbait fish before, with the exception of a couple that sawed me off in heavy cover. I also probably retie my swimbaits more than anyone (Rob can attest to this by the amount of line clippings that pile up in his boat :)). Anyway, a couple months ago I broke off two fish on this line about an hour apart, both for no apparent reason. The first time the line broke about 10 seconds into the fight, the second time the line broke on the hookset.

Earlier in the day I'd got my bait snagged hopelessly down in some tree branches and had to break it off, and it took everything I have to pull hard enough for the line to break. (for those counting... 3 brand new hudds lost so far). There was definitely nothing wrong with the line at that point, and I wonder if stretching the line like that may have been the cause?

For now I've thrown away that spool of line and am chalking it up as a freak accident.

Nico

First of all, that sucks. I know you use TF, and obviously what you are describing shouldn't be happening.

Some basic considerations...

Are you casting with only a foot of line off the tip of the rod?

How often are you retying?

Consider a fluoro leader of 4-6 feet. The fluoro takes casting abuse better (and striper teeth).

How tight of a drag are you fishing?

Well I've gotten some good suggestiong from here and TT. So lets give a little more info.

The Rod having the problems is the Okuma 7' 11" XH that I won from here matched with a Calcutta 400TE

I can concede that the line might have been old and needed replacing the first day. However in my mind there shouldn't have been problems after I respooled with fresh line from a different spool then the first.

The casts usually have 2-3 feet of line out. Retying fairly often. Kinda had to when the line keeps breaking. Once I started catching the stripers the drag went off lockdown and I loosened it up a bit.

I had chalked it up to just older line needing replacing but even with a fresh spool the very first fish broke the line...

Ok I feel like im just bagging on the line so let me give some examples of what happened when I caught 5 more on the other rod combo ( custom wrapped Rainshadow, calcutta 400b) Was throwing the Slammer X-2 and had a 12 lb striper eat the bait head first with the back half sticking out the mouth. This means that the line was being sawed between the teeth and the wood bait during the fight. Caught the fish no problem when I got the bait out and checked the line it was knicked and crimped but held up. Retied and the VERY NEXT cast caught a twin of the first but this time the fish managed to wrap the line around the body maybe 2 times and the line held then to. I went on to catch 3 more fish that day no problem.

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Pretending to be a swimbait fisherman since 2001.

The 7'11" XH is a very stiff rod for topwaters and wood. JMO.

Stripers do a have a razor sharp section on their gill plate. I've heard of line breaking on that if your line gets wrapped around the fish's head. It's a small possibility but it is possible.

One difficulty in determining what swimbait tackle to use and how to use it, is that you don't get a ton of bites typically. Since you are on a bite where you're getting good numbers of bites, you have the luxury of being able to experiment. I'd try a different brand of line next time, or a different rod. Or whatever variable you think is the most likely culprit.

I'm pissed at 25 big game. I'll never buy another spool of that for the rest of my life. I snapped off an 11 lber and a couple 8 lbers with a brand new spool of that shizz.

http://www.calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/bigreenjobass/

I recently learned that by casting over hand - like at 12 or 1 o'clock angle, it puts stress on the line. I've lost lures just casting this way... So, I imagine that it can also stress the line enough to cause it to break later on. I now cast 3/4 or side arm most of the time...

Don't know if that will help... but that's my two cents.

Rob, I was thinking of buying a okuma 7'11" XH for huds since my heartland seems a little light for them. Sorry to take you off the subject but it sounds like you wouldn't recommend that rod for hudds?
Would the 7'6" XH be a better choice?

I had the same thing happen last year. Berkely Big Game... Not good stuff... I don't know if its the line in your case, but it was the problem in mine.

Check your line when its broken. Does it look like a clean cut? Probably the line itself snapping. Mono gets stretched out slinging those big baits, and eventually weakens and breaks.

Is it all jagged with little nicks above it? Probably got sawed off. Get a heavier trace leader like a foot of 30 pound so the teeth don't slice it as easily.

Is it kind kinded and swirly? Probably the knot slipped.

Line is weird stuff. Try playing a round with some brands and seeing what works. I use 20 lb Sunline Shooter and love the stuff!
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Go big or go home!

You could have a small hairline crack in one of your guides that is fraying your line. take a q tip and rub it around the inside of all your guides. If there is crack the q tip will find it.

www.mattlures.com